One traditional method of treating a wound involves the placement of a sterile gauze over the wound area and holding the gauze in place with an adhesive tape. This type of wound dressing has numerous shortcomings. The wound is not fully isolated from the air and can exchange bacteria with the environment. The gauze can adhere to the wound itself interfering with the healing process which is undesirable. This traditional form of bandage does not control the thermal environment of the wound which is also undesirable.
Although some forms of wound heaters and non-contact wound coverings are known from Veilhan Fr. 1,527,887 (1969) they are not generally accepted for several reasons. For example, wound coverings which include a rigid enclosure forming a cavity that covers the wound are usually adhesively attached to the skin of the patient with a relatively inelastic material. As a result the wound covering is unable to accommodate patient motion. Consequently patient motion will cause the rigid wound covering to "peel-off" of the patient's skin. The traditional solution to this problem has been to use a more aggressive adhesive tape or the like to more firmly attach the wound covering to the skin. This solution to the problem results in an uncomfortable bandage.
The traditional wound covering does not permit close control over the temperature of the wound area. Prior art heated bandages which rely on a non-contact enclosure may use point source type heaters which result in variations in radiant heat flux depending on the location of the heater within the enclosure. Therefore there is a need for a non-contact bandage which can be used to control the environment of the wound and which may be reliably and comfortably attached to the skin.
French Patent No. 1,527,887 issued to Veilhan discloses a rigid wound cover that sits directly on a patient's skin. Additionally, there is disclosed a heating element placed at the peripheral edge of the cover away from the wound. Rigidity is imposed on the Veilhan cover as a matter of necessity to provide structural support to the heater and other fixtures such as a light.
PCT International Application PCT/IT88/00006, International Publication No. WO 89/04158 to Checconi, et al., discloses a wound dressing using a rigid spacer between the plaster and the patient's skin. The plaster and the spacer are intended to provide for considerable aeration while avoiding any contact with the patient's wound. The Checconi device does not contemplate a need for deformability and stretchablility to accommodate patient motion.
PCT International Application PCT/US93/05876, International Publication No. WO 94/00090 to Augustine discloses a wound covering that, like Checconi, does not comprehend well the need to accommodate patient motion.